


Night and Day

by mayers



Series: Juphelia AUs [2]
Category: Sweet/Vicious (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Know Each Other But Don't Know Each Other AU, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 13:52:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10743006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayers/pseuds/mayers
Summary: Ophelia has a major ramen noodle accident and completely fries her computer. Desperate to scrounge up the cash to buy a new rig, she takes on two positions: the graveyard shift at Darlington's IT department and a part-time gig at the café down the street. Her favourite thing about both jobs is that she meets Jules. Twice.





	Night and Day

**Author's Note:**

> Original AU prompt from Tumblr user mickeyed. What can I say? I love AUs and I love Juphelia even more.

Panic. That was all Jules could process. She frustratingly tapped on the keys of her computer with her phone pressed to her ear, knowing that her angry drumming would most likely just make her laptop even more unresponsive. It was thirty minutes to midnight, she'd been working on a 12-page English research essay for ages in a stuffy library chair, and she couldn't connect to the school's wifi to submit the paper on time for the life of her.

She'd already gone to the library's front desk, where the man said _his_ wifi was working just fine. Super helpful. After she kept bugging him, he pointed her towards the resource board, which had a lime green poster advertising the school’s overnight IT line. So, there she was, hitting her laptop keys and listening to the phone ring.

"Darlington's student IT department," the female voice on the other end answered, "How can I help you on this fine Tuesday night?”

“Yes, hi,” Jules said dolefully, “So, my computer is not connecting to the wifi at all. I restarted a few times and did the troubleshooting thing and checked with the front desk and I have to submit this paper by midnight.”

"Cutting it close, aren’t we?"

“Hey,” Jules scoffed, way too sleep-deprived to keep her frustration in, “This is the one and only time; I never procrastinate.”

“It’s always good to try new things.” Jules could swear that if she could see her right now, this girl on the other end was smirking.

“The flu kept me out of commission,” Jules said, immediately wondering why she was defending herself to the stranger.

“Good thing it’s not contagious over the phone.”

“Well, I don’t have it anymore.” Almost as if she comically timed it, Jules let out a cough. The girl on the other end chuckled. Jules couldn’t help but laugh, too.

“Get well soon,” the amused voice said, “What kind of computer do you have?”

“Mac. Air,” Jules answered, searching around as if she could find an answer among the empty library tables.

“It’s going to be okay,” the girl said calmly, surprising Jules with her sudden compassion, “You’re talking to the best in the biz. We’ll get your paper in.” Sure enough, Jules was walked through about three procedures until the fourth worked, which made her let out an involuntary squeal. Her essay was in by 11:43 pm.

“Thank you so much,” Jules gushed.

“No, thank you. I was genuinely so bored up here and you gave me something to do.”

“Gosh,” Jules sighed, leaning back in her chair and brushing her hair out of her face, “I was freaking out.”

“You don’t say.”

“I genuinely spent twenty minutes just on proper footnote citation, alone.”

“Damn,” the voice whispered, “What’s this for?”

“An English class on Shakespeare.”

“What, you didn’t get enough of him in high school?”

“Shakespeare’s stuff is great,” Jules said, “I swear, every time you read something of his, you find something new. His characters are well-developed and their motives are clear and- I’m talking your ear off about a dead dude.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” the girl said with a sweet chuckle.

“I’m sorry,” Jules mumbled, “I haven’t had human contact all day. Aside from the guy at the front desk who treated me like I was... a cornered skunk.”

“I’m probably not supposed to say this, but you have a trustworthy voice,” the girl muttered, “If that’s the same dude in library C, he has a reputation around here.”

“Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes. He’ll call to ask the simplest question just to say, ‘you know, I like a girl who knows her way around a computer.’”

“I...”

“Same. But, then, next time he called, I told him nobody likes a guy who pretends to forget his log-in information just to unsuccessfully hit on us.”

“No way,” Jules let out a loud laugh, quickly covering her mouth to quiet herself, “Does he still call you guys?”

“Every so often,” the girl answered, “On the very small bright side, I’m glad to hear that he, at least, reserves that crap for phone calls and wasn’t creepy with you.”

“Not with me,” Jules chuckled, “If he was, he’d be tending to a bloody nose right now.”

“Hardcore,” the girl said, sounding quite impressed, “So, tell me more about Shakespeare. Maybe you can coax me out of 21 years of dreading his plays.”

“I believe I can,” Jules answered, smirking to herself, “Except, if your dread is aimed towards Romeo and Juliet, I wouldn’t say it’s misguided. That one is my least favourite. And I typically like romance.”

“Is it the whole spoiler thing at the beginning?”

“ _That_ ,” Jules said with a chuckle, “And the two of them deciding to go to such lengths because they couldn’t be together. What kind of message does that send? I mean, I get it, the whole thing was, like, ‘look what happened just because these two families refused to get along.’ But, people studying it today act like the forbidden love thing is this ancient, charming trope. As if communities of people today don’t get ostracized for loving who they love?” Jules let out a breath, not quite sure how she went from worked up to relieved to worked up again in such a short amount of time.

“Okay, where have you been all these other nights I’ve been locked in this office crying of boredom and watching Youtube videos on kinetic sand?”

“Finishing my essays on time,” Jules replied.

“Please have computer issues more often.”

“Maybe I will,” Jules mumbled, “I mean, I now know I have a resource to go to and I do like a girl who knows her way around a computer.” The girl on the other end laughed, prompting Jules to smile her self-satisfied smile. “Well, I better go, I have an early class tomorrow and my housemates will freak if I don’t get home at a reasonable time.”

“Hope you have good dreams about Shakespeare productions,” the voice said, “Also, I’m sure you’re going to ace that paper.”

“Thank you so much for your help,” Jules answered, “And if the kinetic sand videos get tiresome, look up ones on homemade slime. So oddly satisfying.”

“Noted.” Jules hung up with a smile, packed up her things, and went home, knocking out the second her head hit the pillow.

\---

Ophelia's job at the café was the polar opposite to the gig at IT. Instead of sitting at a desk and counting down the minutes, she was constantly on her feet and didn’t have the time to think. She didn’t know which job she preferred yet.

She handed a chocolate croissant to one of her regulars, involuntarily peering into the tip jar to see that it was empty. It was only two hours into her weekend shift, but the lack of pocket change was disheartening.

The next person in line came forward, and Ophelia looked up to see a cute blonde. She smiled at her, straightening out her apron.

“Hi,” the customer said sweetly.

“Hello,” Ophelia answered.

“I realize this is a total long shot,” she mumbled, peering into the class case, “But you don’t have any more of the lemon cranberry scones in the back or anything, do you?”

“No, I’m sorry,” Ophelia replied, biting the inside of her cheek, “I sold the last one about half an hour ago.”

“Crud, okay,” she answered, “No problem at all. I’ll get one of the blueberry muffins, please.” Ophelia nodded, grabbing the tongs and quickly placing a muffin into the generic brown paper bag.

“You must be new here,” the customer said.

“Am I doing that bad of a job?” Ophelia flirted.

“No, no,” she said quickly, waving her hand dismissively, “I mean, I come here a lot, and I’ve never seen you before.” Ophelia chuckled, handing the bag over to her.

“I am,” Ophelia answered, “New, I mean.”

“You like the busyness?”

“I kind of do,” Ophelia answered with a sure nod, “Makes a shift go by fast, at least.”

“Understandable,” the blonde replied with another smile, taking the muffin and handing Ophelia her money.

“Come in Tuesday,” Ophelia said, “I work the afternoon and I’ll save you one of those scones.” The blonde grinned scandalously as if Ophelia just told her the juiciest gossip to ever hit Darlington.

“Thanks,” she answered, “Love your hair, by the way.”

“Thank you,” Ophelia said, handing back her change. The customer dropped it in the tip jar and gave her one last grin. Ophelia didn’t want to admit it to herself, but she was totally blushing.

\---

Jules was sprawled out on her stomach atop her bed, ready to watch some Netflix and eat the muffin in her bag that she’d been saving. As she opened her web browser, the dreaded “No Internet Connection” page started back at her.

She sighed to herself, opening her wifi panel and doing what she always did when the campus wifi wasn’t working: selected the house’s own Zeta wifi.

Jules found herself hesitant to actually click it, realizing that another opportunity to talk to the IT girl was presenting itself. She admitted it; she’d kind of developed a crush on the bold yet sympathetic voice on the other end.

A rush of intrigue filled Jules as she considered calling the line. She could easily just use the house’s wifi, and she didn’t even know if the girl from a few nights ago was working. Her doubts weren’t nearly convincing enough and Jules soon found herself in her ‘Recent Calls’ and tapping on the phone number.

"Darlington's student IT department.” Jules felt a smile grow on her face, recognizing the sober voice immediately.

“Hey,” she said, “Um, I am having a problem connecting to the school wifi. I called a few nights ago; were you the one who helped me?”

“Shakespeare girl!” the voice exclaimed. Jules cocked her head to the side and smiled bashfully. “Wifi again, huh?”

“Yes,” Jules answered, “But the circumstances aren’t as dire. I’m just trying to watch Netflix.”

“That’s dire,” the voice said, “What are you watching?”

“Uh...” Jules mumbled, “Is that important?”

“Oh, the hesitation must mean it’s a guilty pleasure.”

“It’s just... I don’t believe that’s relevant to my tech problem.”

“It’s relevant to me,” she relented, chuckling. Jules sighed, playing with her necklace.

“Grey’s Anatomy,” Jules mumbled. She heard an understanding hum.

“A classic,” the girl on the other end said. She chuckled again before guiding Jules through the same simple process. The wifi was up and running yet again, and Jules stared at her screen, hoping the conversation with the IT girl would continue.

“What part are you at?” the girl asked, “Wait, no- just tell me the season. I don’t want to risk spoilers.”

“Season nine.”

“Okay, yeah,” she said, “I’m only on, like, the fifth season.”

“You gotta catch up!”

“I’ve just been stuck in a Youtube wormhole, as you know.”

“Oh, yes,” Jules giggled, “The kinetic sand.”

“You were right about the homemade slime, by the way,” the girl mentioned, “Totally satisfying.”

“Right?”

“I want to try making it,” the voice explained, “But I have a feeling I’d start a fire. Somehow.” Jules chuckled, turning on her back and staring at her ceiling.

“It’s quite easy,” Jules said, “I made a lot this one time with my friends and it kept us entertained all day. Except I spent way too much money on food coloring.”

“How much?” the voice asked urgently.

“Like, thirty bucks,” Jules admitted, “I just kept putting them in the basket, okay? I didn’t realize...”

“Legendary.” The two of them laughed again. “One time, I spent about twice that on jacket patches before I even knew how to embroider them.”

“Are you trying to one-up my poor financial choices?” Jules asked, feigning shock.

“Just trying to make you feel better... by establishing my status as the best impulse shopper in the world.”

“Or worst.”

“No... best,” the girl on the other end replied, “Ugh, I got another call coming in. Do you-”

“Go ahead,” Jules stammered, her heart sinking a little, “I better go, anyways.”

“Enjoy your Netflix.”

“Thanks again for the help.”

“Any time.”

\---

Ophelia tapped her fingertips on the counter-top, worried about getting caught for holding onto a scone for the pretty stranger she promised it to. She knew her boss wasn’t going to be coming in for a while, and she doubt he’d even notice, or care, but she needed this job to get a new computer and that desperation kind of turned her into a paranoid control freak.

She was filling up the napkin dispenser when the bell over the door sounded. Ophelia looked up to see the familiar girl stroll into the small shop. She was in a floral dress that complimented her eyes, which Ophelia knew she’d be thinking about for the rest of the day.

“Hello again,” the girl said kindly. Ophelia only smirked, holding a finger up as she turned to the display case and grabbed the already-bagged scone she hid behind a cup of extra plastic forks.

The girl had her money ready, holding it out to Ophelia and eagerly taking the treat.

“It really helps to have friends in high places,” she whispered, stuffing the scone in her bag, “Thank you. And a medium coffee, please.”

“I couldn’t bear disappointing you again,” Ophelia nodded and said coyly, grabbing the customer’s change, “I swear, telling you we didn’t have any scones left was like telling a kid there’s no Santa.” The girl only laughed, her dimples caving into her cheeks as she shyly insisted that Ophelia keep the change.

After getting her coffee, the blonde found a seat near the rain-splattered window, settling in and organizing her laptop and school supplies on the table. The café steadily gained traffic soon after, keeping Ophelia busy until her boss came in half an hour later and asserted that she go on her break. She didn't have to be told twice.

Ophelia grabbed herself a cup of green tea and made her way towards the front door of the busy shop to get some fresh air when the same customer she'd admittedly been smitten over caught her eye. She was rubbing her forehead, looking befuddled as she stared down at her phone. Ophelia saw her opening and quickly altered her path, walking towards the table. The blonde looked up with parted lips.

"You good?" Ophelia mumbled, "I'm not only good at smuggling scones, but I also know a few things about technology."

"My phone is just crashing every app I try to open," the girl answered, pointing to the screen and looking totally defeated, "I'm trying to delete photos because maybe it's a storage thing, but it's not even letting me do that."

"Can I...?"

"Please." Ophelia pulled the empty chair on the other end of the circular table beside the girl and rested her tea far away from the laptop (she'd learned her lesson). She chewed on her bottom lip as she leaned forward and took in all the pieces of the puzzle, her finger hovering over the phone's screen. She quickly got into the zone, sure she looked like she was defusing a bomb.

Ophelia eventually sat back, looking over at the girl to see she was already staring at her.

"I think that should do it," Ophelia announced.

"I'm not going to even ask how you did that," the blonde told her, taking back her phone and looking down at it like it was extremely fragile, "But I will ask how you _knew_ how to do that."

"One of my profs once told me I speak electronics and electronics speak me," Ophelia recalled, offering a small smile, "But, I don't believe that anymore because I spilled hot soup all over my keyboard and destroyed everything."

"You're kidding."

"Wish I was," Ophelia mumbled, mockingly laying it on thick, "Honestly, the reason I'm working here is to make enough money to buy a new set-up. I'm also working nights in IT. I'm literally that desperate."

The girl only answered her with raised eyebrows and a cocked head.

"Was it something I said?" Ophelia chuckled nervously.

"You work in IT? Like, the school's IT department?"

"That's the one."

"I knew you sounded familiar," the blonde answered with a surprised smile, pointing to herself, "I'm the girl with the wifi. I called twice?"

"No way," Ophelia nearly shouted, "The Shakespeare buff?"

"Yeah," she answered, laughing.

"Small freakin' world."

"No kidding." Ophelia scratched the back of her neck.

"I'm Ophelia."

"I gathered," the girl replied, slyly pointing to Ophelia's name-tag, "I'm Jules. It's nice to be able to thank you in person for all your help."

"Hey, you kept me entertained," Ophelia said with a shrug, "It's good to meet you... twice."

"You, too."

"Do you mean t-o-o or t-w-o?" Ophelia quipped, immediately regretting her cheesy joke. "And clearly, I am just as charming in person as I am on the phone."

"I can see that," Jules said, shamelessly laughing at the pun. Her phone vibrated on the tabletop and she glanced over at it, then grabbed it. "Sorry, it's my dad. I better take this."

"No problem," Ophelia assured, standing and quickly putting the chair back, "This was... cool." Jules flashed an eager smile.

"When should I schedule my next wifi problem?"

"Hmm," Ophelia mumbled, kind of enamored, "Thursday night." Jules nodded and quickly answered her phone as Ophelia walked away with her tea in her hand and an embarrassingly big smile on her face.


End file.
